The luxury automaker unveiled the two-door model in a webcast on Tuesday after a decade of declining industry-wide sales for convertibles. Mass-market consumers who want something sporty may have switched to SUVs, but the ultra-wealthy can have both.

Once synonymous with freedom and rebellion and available in every price class, open-top cars are becoming playthings almost exclusively for the rich. And there’s enough money at the disposal of the world’s elite to prompt Rolls-Royce to develop the Dawn.

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Sales of convertibles have plunged 51 per cent from their 2004 peak, to 409,770 cars last year, while sport utility vehicle deliveries increased nearly fourfold to 12.3 million, according to data from IHS. Though new convertible versions of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and BMW 2 Series may help nudge those numbers up by 2020, sales won’t return to the 2004 level, Urquhart said.

Affordable convertibles have become increasingly hard to find. Volkswagen is discontinuing the Eos, Renault SA halted production of the Wind and the ragtop version of the Megane, and Ford put the Thunderbird on ice in 2005 and today only sells convertibles as part of its Mustang lineup.

Part of the decline in convertibles stems from automakers’ shifting focus to China, where high-end buyers wouldn’t dream of driving through smog-polluted cities in an open car. With the Chinese car market declining, however, this might not be such a bad time to unveil a niche model that’s not targeted at the country, Urquhart said.

Second convertible

The Dawn is the second convertible in the Rolls-Royce stable and will be both smaller and less expensive than the 390,000-euro drophead version of the Phantom. Rolls-Royce declined to disclose the convertible Phantom’s sales.

Named for the the open-top Silver Dawn that Rolls-Royce built from 1950 to 1954, the new Dawn shares a wheelbase with the 240,250-euro Wraith coupe. The car boasts a ride as silent as a sedan once the roof is up. Like the Wraith, it also has a satellite-aided ability to anticipate the road ahead.